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Top 20 Worst Jokes that Ruin an Episode Candidates
So, it turns out that episodes with the "House Fancy effect" don't only exist in Spongebob. They exist in a variety of different shows. For those unfamiliar with the term: "The House Fancy Effect:" A single joke in an episode that falls so below the rest of the quality that it drags the episode down. It is often the most memorable part of the episode and often overshadows everything else about it. It is not a running gag, as the joke only happens once, but the joke can be the one that the episode ends on (like Foster's Goes to Europe). In short: one bad joke ruins the episode. This is named after the episode "House Fancy" from Spongebob. It's most memorable moment was a grueling 10-second clip of a toenail being brutally torn off of Squidward's foot, and that overshadowed everything else about the episode. I can't review these on their own, or we'll have more reviews like my "Are You Happy Now review," where I don't say all that much. What I need are some examples. They could be a Family Guy cutaway, can come from any show. They're just that one joke that left a bitter taste in your mouth, even if nothing else about the episode bothered you. A few examples: "Peter Problems" (Family Guy) - Peter uses a forklift to brutally eviscerate a whale. It's slow and drawn-out. "Eek, an Urchin!" (Spongebob) - Dressed like a female urchin in an attempt to seduce an infestation, Plankton is locked in another room with an avalanche of urchins that have the hots for him, while Mr. Krabs cruelly/ignorantly ignores his cries for help "The Job" (Gumball) - Gumball and Darwin deliver a pizza to a couple of anthropomorphic pizzas and it's compared to the stork. They then drop the pizza face first on the ground, the parents are mortified, as the pizza slides down the stairs, smearing its sauce. "Fosters Goes to Europe" (Foster's Home) - After a whole episode of people getting ready to go to Europe, the kindly Madame Foster uses slight of hands to steal their tickets right behind Mac's back. There are also some that hit the line. Terrible moments that shouldn't have been included, but the episode made the rebound before it was too late. I'll try not to add them, but for an example: "Boom Boom, Out Goes the Ed" (Ed, Edd n Eddy) - Eddy doesn't care that one of his only friends is presumably dead as long as he actually finally got his money. It's only redeemed by him losing said money. Fan Ideas TheSheriff777 Shuffleboarding BlueRockShooter109 Ratings Guy: A cutaway gag (I know how much you love those), when Lois and Peter abandon a baby Meg at a fire station. vexer6 The Simpsons- Missionary Impossible, the joke ending pissed me off to no end, basically when Homer and Lisa Jr are about to get drowned in lava, we suddenly cut to someone from PBS(whom Homer got in trouble with earlier in the episode for not paying his promised pledge) lampshading the cliffhanger ending and then we get a lame unfunny jab at Family Guy(which looks awkward now considering the crossover episode) and we got one last lame joke about Bart saving PBS. It's the prime example of writers throwing their hands up in the air saying "We're too lazy to think of a real ending". Sephirath21000 Ben 10 Alien Force: Simple - Ben Tennyson recieves a message from an alien girl on a distant planet whose species has been enthralled in a war, Ben brings Kevin and Gwen there to help sort the issue out and bring both sides to peace. Upon arriving there and talking with the leaders of the Red and Blue factions (for simplicity I'll just refer to the leaders as "Redmond" and "Blutarch" since they are unnamed throughout the episode), Ben comes to the conclusion upon hearing both of them out separately that this War was a matter of territorial disputes (both generals upon first encounter state that the other side attacked first and that both were only trying to defend themselves and that they only desire peace overall with their neighbor). Meanwhile plot "B" has Kevin working with an old 'friend' of his Argit, Argit has the brilliant idea of scooping up the abandoned ordinance left by both sides and repainting them to the opposite color and re-sell them indiscriminately, raking in the jewels from the Blue Faction and the metallic ore from the Red Faction that were being used as payment. Using Bens' "celebrity status" (God I Hate the 3rd season for making such a serious character devolve mentally to that of arrogance when he built himself up with seriousness: view the Youtube video on my channel: Ben 10 Alien Force: Modesty vs. Arrogance for a more abstract view of how Ben as a character was with his Season 1 and 2 version being serious compared to his Season 3 persona being filled with hot-air), Ben manages to call off the fighting while "Redmond" and "Blutarch" met up to hash out the peace talks. However when arriving at the summit, "Redmond" and "Blutarch" get into bickering with one-another over some matter involving Red or Blue. Inquiring what it was they were talking about, Ben is directed to a massive statue located along the length of the Maginot line: a statue of the planets' greatest philosopher known as Zavin, each side claimed that Zavin was originally one of their own in the past but due to the process of time flaking away at the statue, neither side has verifid claim as to if Zavin was Red or Blue (this makes the reason for the war more confusing as it doesn't seem to be one based on Cold War defense, but more of a war on Ideology), "Redmond" and "Blutarch" come to blows again only for Ben to intervene and try to put this situation to rights again. He then asks for both leaders to try and shake hands and let bygones-be-bygones, however while reaching out to "Blutarch" to shake his hand, "Blutarch" calls out that because of reaching out with his right hand it is declared that Ben was working with the Red Faction all along and war is re-instigated. (The reason is because the Blue Faction shakes with their left hand while the Red Faction shakes with the Right hand, along with adding that "everybody knows that."). With the war starting up again, business is booming for Kevin and Argit as they continually profit off of the stolen and resold ordinance. Meanwhile Ben has now went on the warpath and captures "Redmond" and "Blutarch" and takes them to a cave in the mountains to force them into signing a peace treaty and ending this nonsensical war altogether, only to find out that the two Faction Leaders don't seem to take this situation seriously anymore by asking Ben when they can eat. Ben is about to force his hand again when the generals speak out in the following: "Redmond": "Easy Ben 10. Violence never accomplishes anything." Ben: "Do you even hear yourself?" "Blutarch": He means random violence, War is orderly violence." Ben: (Flabbergasted) "Orderly violence?" "Blutarch": "We need war Ben 10." "Redmond": "That's right, it gives people something to blame their problems on." "Blutarch": "If they can't afford houses or food or schools: it's the wars' fault." "Redmond": "If there were no war, they'd blame us for all that." "Blutarch": "Exactly. So can we go now?" So the war is not about territorial disputes nor is it based on ideology, but in truth its all just a pointless distraction meant to take away from the real issues plaguing the factions. Ben is firm on not letting this pointlessness continue any further and forces "Redmond" and "Blutarch" to go back into the cave to draft a treaty and end this nonsense once-and-for-all. Later that night, "Redmond" and "Blutarch" both work together to overpower Ben and escape back to their armies. The following day both armies are prepared to advance on one-another with their mobile tank divisions before the statue of Zavin, the generals proclaiming that this was what they should do to solidify their vision of Zavin belonging to them only for a loud booming voice to ring out from Zavin "What a load!" Gaining the attention of the armies at last, Ben 10 in his alien form of Way Big steps out from behind Zavin and proclaims his reason for coming to their planet to help a child that wanted to end this war forever, and that the reasons for it were impossibly beyond his reach, but that it wouldn't deter him as he would find a way to stop this war for everyones' sake. "So I've made a decision: I'm going to stay here as long as it takes to make you guys come to your senses. I've got nothing but time." As soon as Way Big says this, he accidentally topples the statue of Zavin when he rests his arm on it, and both sides go charging after Ben: uniting in a War against Ben himself for destroying Zavin. Ben, Gwen, and Kevin leave the planet and the alien girl proclaims in a holomessage that because of his actions she has to work double-time in the factory and no longer has a home and that she has finally found something she hates more than the war. "I've finally found something I hate more than the war. You!" This was the 4th episode of the 3rd season of Ben 10 Alien Force, and it was where the series as a whole started to go straight down the pooper as a result. After this episode aired; there would be issues regarding continuity, logic, characterization, and even Ben himself would never be able to rise out of this entirely. Most of us Ben 10 Fans saw this with the revelation of Alien Force Seasons 4 and 5 (Officially labeled as "Ben 10 Ultimate Alien", an 'entirely separate series' that continues exactly where Alien Force left off at, has the same animation style as the previous series, and has the same voice actors reprising their roles.), than it became truly apparent when after Alien Force ran its gamut, we were introduced to another Ben 10 series: Ben 10 Omniverse: which was to Ben 10, as "Toddler Titans" was to Teen Titans in my opinion (don't believe me on this? just look at one of the alien transformations that Ben in this series had at his disposal: Bloxx: which basically looked like a gorilla made out of red, yellow and blue Lego pieces!!) Bottom line, Ben 10 Alien Force Post-Season 2 was slowly dying, and the genre with it. Jediuser American Dad: Now and Gwen - The scene where Steve tries to seduce Gwen, his aunt - under instructions from his father, no less. Seriously, what is it with MacFarlane and incest? Patworx Quagmire's Baby. That episode comes so close to being heartwarming, and then Quagmire implies he's gonna have sex with his daughter when she turns 18. Michaelsar Another Family Guy example? The HORRENDOUS Little Shop of Horrors "parody" in The Courtship of Stewie's Father. The subplot with Herbert as a whole ruined the episode for me, but that scene was HORRID... fuchsia-neko Not sure how much of a joke this was, but... "To Save A Squirrel"(Spongebob Squarepants) - Spongebob and Patrick are stranded in the woods and end up in a cave with an old hermit; Spongebob thinks that Patrick is trying to eat him, but the old man tells him he should beat him to the punch and eat Patrick first. After several attempts of what is practically cannibalism, the old man reveals himself to be Sandy in disguise and rewards them with survival badges. Then they try to eat Sandy, and while running away she says "Next time I'll bring more granola." lewonx You'll be show sorry(kid vs kat)-spray joke. treehugger0123 "Bye Bye Nerdy" (Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends): After fretting the entire episode over trying to be cool instead of a nerd, at the climax Mac sticks up for Bloo and gives the crowd an inspiring speech about how everyone is cool in their own way. Jamez Withazee, after appearing to be moved, calls Mac a nerd, prompting everyone to laugh at Mac. ToonStar95 Here are some more from me: * "No Chris Left Behind": Two scenes - One has Carter mentioning that, once a month, he adopts an orphan but locks his car door so he can't get in, and even taunts it with gifts and a puppy. The second is that one of the perks of being in that secret fraternity is receiving a portion of the 9/11 Victims' Fund. * "Butterballs": The scenes with Butters and his grandmother. * "Brother from the Same Planet": That scene with Homer's face melting. *shudder* * And a Robot Chicken sketch where the Harry Potter kids to go a "normal" school, and it's mentioned that Hermione killed herself from being bullied. onthebench26 TTG's Vegetables and Smile Bones would have actually qualified, if they weren't total gross-outs. MightyMewtron Not so much a joke, but I'd like "Chowder Grows Up" if it didn't confirm that Chowder marries the girl that spent the whole series stalking and harassing him. Even if it is "all just a dream" that's a shitty plot twist on its own. treehugger0123 "Camp Sampson" (Camp Lazlo): After being neglected and ignored by everyone in the camp, Sampson finally finds his niche in being able to sneak into the area where all the confiscated junk food is kept. Everyone is celebrating, and they go to do the "crowd picks up and carries the person celebrated" bit...and they pick up his bed dummy instead and don't notice their mistake. An unforgivable Yank The Dog's Chain moment after everything he went through that episode. Also, I'd like to make a (dis)honorable mention to the series finale "Lumpus's Last Stand" for ending on a joke that ruined the whole series. The main plot was mediocre(Lumpus realizes that no-one would need to do laundry anymore if they just covered themselves in paint instead of wearing clothes; par for the course with this series, imo), but near the end, it's revealed that Lumpus wasn't even the real scoutmaster; the real scoutmaster was locked up in a closet at Lumpus's hands the whole time! Lumpus doesn't even care that this is revealed until he's arrested and taken to the funny farm. There are so many issues with this; On top of how sick and wrong it was of him, he's made no secret of how much he hates his job there, raising a lot of Fridge Logic. This wasn't even foreshadowed unless you count Lumpus's implied sociopathy on multiple occasions. And no-one realized the old scoutmaster was gone? Unless every camper could only come one year and never again(which is disproved by "Hello Summer, Goodbye Camp") some of them had to have known the old scoutmaster. IDK why the writers thought this would be a good twist; I can only imagine they just stopped caring by then... GJ301 "The Buck Swaps Here" from Foster's Home. While at a swap meet, Eduardo finds a $100 bill that he wants to buy a dollhouse with. However, everyone keeps pressuring Ed into handing over the money so that they can buy things that they want. After a chase ensues, the gang finds an entire stash of money, while Ed unfortunately loses his $100 bill in the process. Feeling guilty, the gang apologizes to Ed for their selfishness and uses all their money to buy Ed the dollhouse. In fact, they even give him the leftover change (a penny) from the purchase. Aw. Sounds heart warming, doesn't it? That is…until Eduardo opens up a safe in his toy chest, containing tons of dollars, diamonds, and gold bars, to put the penny in…IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE GANG. Ed had enough money to buy the dollhouse all along, so why didn't he just take some money from the safe and bring it to the swap meet?! While I find the groups sympathy for Ed touching, that last joke ruined the episode for me. PurtyFlower I don't think the joke from "The Job" was bad, because the Pepperonis could have just bought another pizza, but I think another good example would be "Goldfish Follies" from Clarence. The whole episode's art-style is based on early 1930s cartoons, which appears to be part of Clarence's imagination. After getting a goldfish from a pet store, he tries to bring the fish home, but accidentally pops the bag of water holding the fish, and so he struggles to bring the fish home safely. Thanks to the art-style, and the fact that the fish is personified, the crazy situations they get into are quite humorous, and Clarence is later shown to have gotten the fish home safely into a fish tank. However, at the very end, the art-style returns to normal, and Clarence is shown playing around the fish tank, with his new goldfish lifelessly floating around in the water. It is meant to be humorous, but really just leaves some unfortunate implications, while, at the same time, making the viewer(s) feel bad for laughing at the fish's misfortunes. simpsonsfan0 I would consider To Love a Patty "so bad it's good" if it weren't for the clams scene. Does that count? treehugger0123 "Hungry Yumi" (Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi) - After the titular duo have jumped through hoops to get the latter a Pink Palace cheeseburger, Kaz, after being absent the entire episode, comes out of nowhere and eats it. LordODarkness84 Turkey Guys (Family Guy): A semi-decent episode with an almost heartwarming ending. It is ruined when the turkey newly befriended by the Griffins gets its head blown off by a drunk Chris, followed by Peter gleefully stating that he later got divorced and Stewie died. Hero Hound (FairlyOdd Parents): Despite that the superhero plot has been used a jillion times on this show, it almost worked except one scene where Timmy wished himself stuck in a well so Sparky could rescue him. Sparky chooses to dig to the well all the way from China - leaving Timmy stuck there for a week - because he thought throwing a ladder down there would take too much time. vexer6 I thought the Turkey Guys ending was hilarious myself, it was the perfect black comedy bit to end the episode on. Agreed on Hero Hound though, I also hated the bit in that one episode where Timmy went through hell to find Poof only for Wanda to poof him back to the alligators. dimentioditto total drama pahkitew island - scarlett fever- Chris barley caring about the contestants i don't hate this episodes in fact i love it but it is too demented even for Chris not to care that the contestants when they could very well die NantheCowdog I hated "Candace Gets Busted" as a whole, but the episode was tolerable until the end, but then it made me do something I didn't think I could do; it made me hate Phineas (I aready hated Linda, but it made me hate her more). Phineas: Candace, if it makes you feel any better, you accidentally threw the most outrageous party of the summer! TunesLooney Adventure Time- BMO Lost: BMO is in love with a talking bubble and Jake pops it. While BMO is panicking, Finn and Jake laugh at him... maliciously. Instead of, you know, being concerned with him? Then it ends all creepy. * Teen Titans Go!- Halloween: Hey, a worse title than "Bats!" was made! Seriously though, as mediocre as this show already is, this episode actually does handle the topic of being out of holiday spirit well. That's coming from someone who felt left out yesterday because he couldn't think of an April Fools joke. The problem? That Thundercats reference with puke near the beginning. Yeah, stop with the references... and don't let it be a good show you cancelled in exchange for crap, Cartoon Network! Speaking of rebounds, there was an episode of Ben 10: Omniverse called "Final Countdown". It's pretty enjoyable with character development for Fistina and having Kundo as a great, despicable villain. There was this moment however where Blukic and Driba reveal they had a functioning tele-porter into the base the whole time after Robucket sacrificed himself to save the planet. It makes me like the two Galvan a little less, but the episode is saved by there being a spare Robucket with memories intact. FuzzyPickles42 The Star Vs. The Forces of Evil episode "The Other Exchange Student". I do like how the show is going so far, but that episode's ending left an awful ''taste in my mouth. In brief, the episode establishes that the Diazes are a very loving host family who shower Star with affection and throw her parties every single day. Then, one morning, another guy comes in named Gustav who was another exchange student that they hosted; apparently, they host a lot. The Diazes start directing most of their affection towards him, causing Star to get jealous. The episode places ''great ''emphasis on just how much the Diazes enjoy having Gustav around and how much he enjoys their company in return. Skipping over a bunch of shenanigans, here's the jokes the episode ends on: Star literally ''blackmailing ''Gustav into leaving, just so she can have all the Diazes attention again. It's implied that she told him to leave them ''forever, we are reminded once again how much the Diazes like Gustav by how sad they were when he was leaving, and it's more or less stated, by the way, that Gustav is homeless. I tend to avoid bad shows, so that is one of the ''worst examples of Protagonist Centered Morality I've ever seen. '''TigrisISA' I don't know about a singular episode that was ruined by it, but the racist jokes in Wakfu are certainly uncomfortable, even though the races are all made up and not really based on skin color, the whole "Iop-brain" ongoing joke started to feel... off... when I thought about the different religious factions as races instead of different species like I'd initially thought. frostyfreezyfreeze54 D.W.'s Perfect Wish (Arthur) I've hated this ending since I was younger and still do. It's D.W.'s fifth birthday but she is not excited about it because she believes that she hasn't done anything special in her life. Arthur reminds her of all the cool things she's done in the first three seasons of the show, cheering her up. How does he get repaid? D.W.'s birthday wish was that Arthur got splattered with cake.........and it happened. That one bit brought the episode down automatically and felt like a middle finger to the viewer. Arthur was trying to be a good older brother and make D.W. feel better on her birthday, and this is what he gets in return? Milo's Reading Buddy (Martha Speaks) This episode is pretty decent except for one joke that ruins it entirely. In the season one episode "Ice Scream," Helen is reading Blue Mangoes to her little brother Jake, but the last page is ripped out. Martha, the dog, says she did not eat it. I repeat, she did not eat the last page. In a later episode, we find out that Helen's friend Truman had the last page under his bed as a really funny gag. In this aforementioned episode, we find out that Milo, another friend of Helen's, has his own copy of Blue Mangoes that he reads to his pet dog. The characters are disappointed in the ending, which prompts Martha to say: "No wonder I ate the last page! Phooey!" It was already established in "Ice Scream" that Martha did not eat the last page and it was brought up again in a later episode as to where the page went. Ignoring continuity like that is one of the little things that eventually forced me to stop watching the show. Gamewafflez I can't of many times where it happens, but this is what I thought. Breadwinners - Mine All Mine This show is already mediocre in my opinion and the episode overall is just weak however the dialouge between Buhduce asking the Breadmaker "Do you Poop" and then saying "I bet it smells like freshly baked bread "brought the episode into complete crap territory. Total Drama Island - has a lot of these moments. For the record there are plenty of jokes that involved subject matters here that never really were handled appropriately along a lot shock humor. Sidekick - too many times. Many of them are poop and pee jokes. The episode Ice to Know You is meh, but there is a joke where Eric picks yellow snow from the ground and his friend Trevor encourages him to try it. He almost does before Kitty stops him. Also the episode I Sidebot which is bad on its own however, there is a really awful cutaway that made it much much worse, where Kitty fantasizes about sneaking into Eric's house at night to bottle his farts and she's strangley infactuated by it. Teen Titans Go! - Pirates. Now I get that the show established that Aqualad was a jerk, but he gets some completely disproportionate retribution for his actions. I get that dark humor is something the show does, but they did not have to derail Beastboy's character for it. Aqualad struggles ,screams and kindly asks for Beastboy to get off his eye and yet he tears it out. Beast Boy is not one that could lose control of his anger even in the new series. He's just this really chill and goofy dude. Super Robin - the third act where Robin completely jumps the shark, stops all crime, forces the titans to quit and that depressing build up where Robin.....dies at the end. Implies that Robin can not have superpowers because he would have a pretty bad life. Thanksgiving- Its still pretty okay episode but the ending involves the titans eating Batman as a turkey. It doesn't bother me that much, but it stops this from being the best episode. Fairly Odd Parents - also pretty often;in Country Clubbed there is a joke where Cosmo blows up the rich folks house because they discovered the Turner's eat of of toilet plungers. This is a quick side gag that suddenly became a plot point in this episode. The Turner's return home claiming that they are more classy than them now (After their house limo and yacht blow up). Family Guy - The Juice is on the Loose: Conway Twitty cutaway gag. Ed Edd n Eddy - Your Ed Here: I really don't get the humor here. It's just one bad joke being used over and over again for something insignificant. So Eddy's middle name is Skipper, but the joke is how Eddy is doing these embaressing things when the cul-de-sac make fun of him for his middle name. I get that Eddy can be a pretty self-centered character much of the time who it's funny to see him get caught up in some sticky situation, but you just feel sorry for him the whole episode because there isn't really anything he did this episode. Stiff Upper Ed - the gags leading up to the ending were alright. The Ed's didn't really do anything wrong and The ending is just wrong and so abrupt. The kids make the Eds their servents, leading to a bunch of "gags" that aren't really funny. The kids are just unusually rude and the Ed's are out of character because they take it in without protest. Ecclytennysmithylove To be honest, I find "The Juice is Loose" as an atrocity. It also had the stupid throwaway ending in which OJ randomly stabs three people and runs off, with Peter saying "I guess he did do it." That was the exclamation point for an unfunny tactless episode. And I also viewed "Your Ed Here" as an atrocity because it had another irksome moment involving Eddy's hypocrisy. Towards the end of the episode, Double D was comforting Eddy (what you would expect from him) when Eddy's middle name was revealed and everyone made fun of him. To cheer him up, Double D tells him his middle female name: Marion. What does Eddy do? He laughs at it, calls everyone in the cul-de-sac to attention so they can make fun of Double D. And they all gather around to laugh at a very blushing, embarrassed Double D. WHAT THE HELL, EDDY!? Is this how you repay the ONLY person who didn't laugh at you for your middle name? The one trying to cheer you up and tell you to be proud of your name? I knew you were a jerkass, Eddy, but I never thought you stoop this low!!! Yasminova By the way, these are for JOKES. They are intended to be funny moments in an episode, not primary plot points (unless they're played for laughs at the same time). Just a reminder to some of you. Honestly, I think it's really unfair that you say an entire episode is bad because of 10 seconds that aren't even relative to the plot. Yeah, the House Fancy scene is hard to watch, but can you really say the whole thing is bad just because of a single joke? I'll agree on those that ruin the plot, however, as they can ruin sweet or satisfying moments that seem pointless because it never resolved anything or was totally pointless. zettabeam62 the self-aware jokes in toddler titans go "let's get serious", it's the closest thing to a good episode i've seen in toddler titan. but the with the self-aware jokes it's just like them saying "what i'm doing is stupid, i know it's stupid, but i'm gonna do it anyway because it's adored by the network." Ecclytennysmithylove According to MrEnter, a "House Fancy" episode involves having only one bad scene/line that nearly/completely ruins a decent good episode. Also, it can't be something from a bad/mediocre show MrEnter already tackled. ToonStar95 * "Lois Comes Out of Her Shell" (Family Guy) - Peter getting a birthday card from Cleveland where he recorded his voice on it, before it spirals into a run-in with a racist cop. The scene then goes on basically as a money-saver (Peter's eyes only blink ONCE during that scene), then Peter comments "I'm sure he's fine." * "Road to Germany" (Family Guy) - The infamous McCain-Palin button joke. * "A Head in the Polls" (Futurama) - The ending featuring Nixon's robotic rampage through Washington. * "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" (The Simpsons) - Marge telling Bart that he "ruined Thanksgiving". Sure she ended up feeling bad about it, but ouch though. * "Road to the Multiverse" (Family Guy) - The graphic ending to the Disney scene. Ecclytennysmithylove Regarding your candidate on "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", MrEnter already accepted it as part of 1001 Animations mrenter.deviantart.com/art/100… , so that episode does not count. And as for "Road to the Multiverse", that episode had more than one bad scene, which results in it being an atrocity: 1. The scene where Brian and Stewie first went to the universe where the world has been progressed much further and faster technologically if Christianity never existed. This is flat-out false. Christianity actually helped PRESERVE lost Roman sciences and arts during the Dark Ages. The biggest cause of the Dark Ages was the burning of the Library of Alexandria by the Muslim caliphate and the destruction of the Roman Empire, both of which set back centralized research and development several centuries. On the other hand, the Muslims preserved a lot of science and advanced scientifically while Europe didn't, and Muslim knowledge came back to Europe during the Crusades, which was what helped lead them out of the Dark Ages. Keep in mind that Islam wouldn't even exist if Christianity was never formed. 2. In the Flintstones-esque universe with Peter as Fred and Lois as Wilma, the jokes were nothing but "rock" puns. Um, writers, you do know that The Flintstones was essentially The Honeymooners with cavemen, right? It wasn't just "rock" puns. Also, Stewie's and Brian's reaction of utter boredom and annoyance at the Flintstones-esqe universe. Um, writers? You do realize that The Flintstones was the longest-running cartoon sitcom for years until The Simpsons''came and beat that record, pretty much paving the way for night-time cartoon sitcoms of the future. Look, writers, we're not saying the show is perfect, but without that kind of success, your show probably would've never existed in the first place. And it's especially insulting when you consider Seth MacFarlane started his animation career ''at Hanna-Barbera; there's light-hearted jabs and then there's being disrespectful, this was the latter. 3. The scene where Brian and Stewie went to the universe where Japan won World War II. Okay, few questions: why would everyone be stuck in the Edo era? Didn't the writers realize that Japan was only able to threaten the Pacific rim in WWII because they abandoned samurai and Westernized so rapidly? An American family enculturated by an invading Japan would bear more resemblance to a non-invaded American family of the same time than to a Japanese family from the pre-Meiji eras. Not to mention that had the Japanese not quit in WWII, America would have kept dropping atomic bombs on them. And even if we remove the nukes, the Americans were beating the Japanese severely enough that Japan was planning on surrendering BEFORE the nukes. And unfortunately, determination alone doesn't automatically allow you to defeat a far superior opponent. It merely draws out your beating. And that is to say nothing of the Soviet involvement in the Pacific. But what's even worse in this universe was that they have the Griffin family as racist characters that would make Jar-Jar Binks (of Star Wars) look politically correct. First, Japanese-Peter tells Japanese-Meg to commit seppuku for being ugly, which she does, and then beats Japanese-Lois for something stupid. This is why I'm convinced the writers hate Asians. Orcrest Okay, having a quick look at the comments, am I the only one that found the mentioned joke in "the Job" super hilarious? Do you then find the joke in the powerpuff girls episode (can't find/remember the title) where the prof. is making cakes and they come out bad, Bubbles overhears him talking and thinks he wants to get rid of the girls? And then there's a joke where they think the "hitman" is going to eat their corpses? It seems similar as far as the type of humor is concerned. Although there is nothing graphic in that episode so maybe not. but answering the question, without naming anything, usually when there is a big gross-out joke it can really sour an episode for me. Many cartoons did that back in the day, currently it usually is pretty tame and the only ones I think affected me where in the 1st season of Gumball. ToyStoryFan123 Red Hot Catholic Love (South Park) - Only ruined by Cartman, Randy and some other characters literally spewing out shit. The episode makes a great joke about that disgusting joke, but... that doesn't make the disgusting joke any less disgusting Make Love, Not Warcraft (South Park) - Great episode all throughout, except for the scene when Cartman had diarrhoea. It wasn't funny and far too graphic, even by South Park standards. Grimm Job (Family Guy) - The final frame of Meg hanging herself. It wasn't funny and no joke was even attempted aside from "suicide is funny and everyone hates Meg! HUR DEE DUR!" The Splendid Source (Family Guy) - Ruined by two jokes (although just one in the censored version). The first being when Peter stabbed Cleveland with a pencil, only upside was that it was very brief, but that makes me cringe every single time. The second being only in the uncensored version, when Peter tells the joke Quagmire made up; it honestly wasn't funny... at all and it seems like just an excuse to abuse the fact that DVDs are uncensored and they can swear as much as they like. Bart the Murderer (The Simpsons) - The opening scene. Yeah, I get it's to set up that Bart had a crappy day but really, they make it way too mean-spirited, especially when Lisa just slyly waves to him. Also, there's a rebound joke later in the episode involving Homer making Bart smoke every single one of his cigarettes, and it's really, really funny, but that doesn't make up for the opening. Ecclytennysmithylove Regarding your candidate on "The Splendid Source", that episode had more than two horrible jokes, which results in it being an atrocity: 1. The scene where Peter and his gang travel to the Vietnam War Memorial, where a poor caricature of a Vietnamese man gives two war veterans the finger while shouting "Scorecard, Vietnam!" HOW DARE YOU, FAMILY GUY WRITERS! Vietnamese people are barely represented in the media as it is, and the few depictions are the sort of exotic smuggler gang of the week or as a Vietnam War retrospective (think generic flashback into combat in a jungle). How dare you propagate blatant racism on national television!!! Why cannot you look to us as ordinary humans and not some inane gimmick plot device!? Plus, it doesn't make sense: the Vietnamese guy is just randomly there at the war memorial. Why? Just to brag? And why does he look like he's in his 30's when he apparently fought in the Vietnam War? 2. The scene where the gang points out the Washington Monument, and then the "Obama Monument", which is bigger and black. The Simpsons ''did the same joke in 1995 with a Clinton Monument, only it was actually funny back then because Bill Clinton was known for his sexcapades. 3. Towards the end of the episode, a random old man says that he finally got down the perfect dirty joke, and then he suddenly dies due to a heart attack or something like that. Peter then steals his dirty joke and bargains with the Secret Order of Dirty Joke Writers: Peter and his friends leave and in exchange, they hand the group the perfect dirty joke. Peter then burns down the club, killing thousands of people in the process... and the perfect joke was "Guess what? Chicken butt!" That was not only a poor joke that Buckley (Luanne's late ex-boyfriend from ''King of the Hill) did about ten or so years earlier, but also yet another completely pointless ending where even I could come up with a better naughty joke! 4. Right after that scene, Peter said, "Well, you sat through all this, so as a reward, here's a monkey scratching itself. Some charity for cancer kids or something wanted this airtime, but we said screw you." It's like the writers were saying, "We know this episode sucks, but we can't think of a half-decent joke to end it on, so here's some immature stock footage." keybladepls Dan Vs Chris (Dan Vs): Dan gets shipped to Siberia, narrowly missing a stick of dynamite (Albeit his lucky one) exploding Keep Beach City Weird! (Steven Universe): I don't know if it was supposed to be funny, but the ending is really cruel. In fact, just make a list of the top 20 worst endings. That would be good Treehouse of Horror XXII (The Simpsons): Take your pick. Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan (Total Drama World Tour): The Pinball scene, specifically DJ and the panda. Or Team Victory's ad. Something Ricked This Way Comes (Rick and Morty): Satan gets the living daylights beat out of him in a Big Lipped Alligator Moment when Rick and Summer get pumped up on steroids. It comes out of nowhere, it's not funny, and it ruins that episode for me. Sven Hoek (Ren and Stimpy): I do like this episode, but OH MY GOD REN! Pilot Expansion (Clarence): No, this is not to annoy you, but HOW CAN A 70 YEAR OLD MAN STILL BE ALIVE IN THE FAR FUTURE? It just kind of distracts me from the rest of the episode Do or Diaper (Regular Show): That Godamn ending. DianaGohan Boom Boom, Out Goes the Ed" (Ed, Edd n Eddy) - Eddy doesn't care that one of his only friends is presumably dead as long as he actually finally got his money. " - First off I don't think Eddy thought Edd was dead. Eddy was paying attention mostly after his scammed work to holding onto the money and not much else so didn't really even know or probably believe about the sewer monster so probably at worst thought that Double D was just in the sewers. Second off, this is the line Eddy said in response to Ed pointing out that Double D was in the sewers. Eddy: But... it's the end of the show Ed. Yeah that was one of the show's many direct references to the fourth wall referencing this was going against the typical formula. Really how much are you trying to put logic and emotion into a character whose directly going "wait the regular status quo isn't happening around like the series dictates it does?" I can't really see how even if Eddy kept the money that ruin it if he was acknowledging the show itself. MyNameIsRaichu Actually, I have an idea... ...Instead of doing jokes that ruin an episode, what if you did top 20 episodes that could have been a lot better 'if they had changed ''just one thing... It can include the episodes that you're talking about here, or it can include episodes that have a ton of problems that probably would've been overlooked if they had just changed the ending... An example of this would be the Teen Titans Go! Episode "Staring At The Future." In my opinion, all they really had to do was end the episode with the robots blowing up that theater that Cyborg and Beast Boy so desperately ''wanted to go to, and then the other titans finally getting through their '''thick skulls '''about why Responsibility is so important! (and then after that, I guess they would build the time machine again and make everything right) Yeah, if they had done something like that, I probably wouldn't have minded the rest of the episode so much... (see also, Everyone Knows it's Bendy) And since this isn't just limited to unfunny jokes, it can give leeway to episodes that are ruined by other things such as bad morals (ex: Feeling Pinkie Keen). ''Now I suppose I could complain that people are overreacting if they let one moment ruin the entire episode for them, but in general, cartoon writers should still try to avoid these mistakes, and while they don't ''completely ''ruin the episode for me... they do still lower my opinion of said episode... Besides, I think this idea would be much better since it feels a lot more constructive, showing how an episode can be saved even if it makes a terrible first impression. Now, I'm not counting on you to do this, in fact I'm not ev '''Wakeangel2001 okay, there was an amazing world of Gumball episode where they were playing some board game, and to fulfill a challenge card the little sister was wearing all of the clothes in the house, but when the mom realized that it would allow her to move ahead of her she BSed a ruling saying she wasn't technically wearing "everything" in the house because she was only wearing clothes and not stuff like the couch so she moves her back. She then hypocritically says her daughter has to learn to be a good loser and not argue rules. I was never a fan of the Amazing World of Gumball because I'm not a fan of the "the protagonists are idiots" trope in cartoons, but I sympathized with the put upon mom character and thought she was cool...until this crap. It made me hate her, I couldn't even finish watching the episode after that it made me so upset and I really can't bring myself to watch the show to this day. Mastamindtaker Well, these three are off the top of my head. Family Guy: Quagmire's Mom-Peter's 'karaoke phase' cutaway. Family Guy: Stewie is Enciente-The photo shoot scene. Seeing a infant who is PREGNANT trying to do a cute/sexy photoshoot was just....no. The Simpsons: The Bob Next Door-The scene where Sideshow Bob's stitched-on face falls off his body, exposing muscles. That moment was really disturbing for me and felt VERY out of place in the Simpsons and not be a part of an Itchy and Scratchy episode. if I think of any more I'll let you know. Demented-Duskull I was also fine with it, especially since they got another pizza and the pizza that was dropped didn't appear to be living baby pizza and the pepperoni's just misunderstood what happened. The REAL dark and unforgettable joke is since gumball and darwin gave the veggie pizza to the pepperoni's, the makeshift a pizza with dirt, grass, gum (don't ask) and I think a worm. Mr. Smalls then EATS IT right out of the box and passes out. He is presumably dead until he blows a bubble with the bubblegum from the pizza. Darwin asks him for 20 dollars. that was disturbing. The rest of the episode was great though. It was like if a drug trip was digitized into a virus that got deleted RIGHT before it could've gotten rid of everything on your computer. NintendoSegaSonyGuy 1. Whatever episode of Family Guy where Meg has that fight with a school bully and its full of gross out gags. 2. "Box Prince" of Adventure Time where Jake has a chip stuck in his mouth and he refuses to get it out by the end of the episode, saying "that's what life is about." It was already a plotless and retarded episode, but that last kick in the nuts is one of the reasons why I stopped watching that show entirely. 3. This is kind of any iffy one. I didn't have a problem with it and I found it funny in a dark humor way, but I'm sure some people were bothered by that episode of "Over the Garden Wall" with the frogs, specifically the moment where Wirt and Greg cause a couple to drop their tadpole children and then an officers slips on them. FreezePark family guy's conway twitty cutaway the butterfly closeup from the wormy episode of spongebob an episode of the simpsons where homer makes a lactose intolerant kid to eat ice cream and an episode of south park where one of the characters gets a sex change, and they actually show real footage of a sex change, with grunting noises in the background. Adam Kalb Dude, I think a joke ruining an episode is small potatoes compared to this: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls044801425/ The 20 Worst Episodes Ruined by a Heinous Ending. Also, if Seahorse Seashell Party was bad for how the status quo is God, then The Job, in the way that it mocked that bad writing cliche in the wrong way by exagerating it, is a more extreme version of that badness by making it the end of the world so Richard can't be anything other than a useless sack of poop. How unfair is that? What makes The Job any better than Seahorse Seashell Party in your eyes? Category:Top Tens